With the proliferation of networks and connectivity, the need for access to various networks is increasing. Applications that access a network, such as a home network, can be broadly divided into two categories: real-time and non-real-time. Real-time access to the network includes access to data streams such as video or audio, etc., from the network. Non-real-time access to the network includes access to data streams such as e-mail, web pages, File-Transfer Protocol (FTP) downloads, etc., from the network. Real-time data-streams have required bandwidth constraints, while non-real-time data-streams are provided on best efforts traffic without bandwidth constraints.
Quality of Service (QoS) refers to the ability of a network to provide better service for selected network traffic over various technologies. QoS can be quantized by a set of parameters such as bandwidth, delay, delay jitters, priority, etc. QoS provides priority including dedicated bandwidth, controlled jitter and latency for real-time traffic, and improved loss characteristics.
In the context of home networking, QoS can be achieved using two different types of design principles: prioritized QoS and parameterized QoS. Prioritized QoS uses priority tagging to place different types of traffic in different queues. Certain applications (e.g., voice) receive priority treatment, but not a reserved or guaranteed bandwidth. Parameterized QoS provides a certain level of guarantee on bandwidth, delay and jitter.
The Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) QoS 2.0 architecture used in many networks provides priority based QoS, but does not provide any mechanism for parameterized QoS service. Such parameterized QoS service is required for efficient bandwidth and admission control within a network, such as a home network. Further, UPnP QoS 2.0 and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) 1.5 do not provide solutions for establishing QoS for a session and for change of QoS during the session. There is, therefore, a need for method and system for parameterized QoS within a network.